As most of you know I recently took a trip across the country. It was our intention to write about it once we got to Seattle, but settling in took a while and we're lazy about developing film. It is now further postponed by the fact that other things are happening.
It is difficult to start explaining something that you wish wasn't happening. Many of the people who know me or have read this blog understand very well how much I have wanted a dog, and how long I waited to have one. Adopting Oscar in October was one of the happiest and most surreal things I've done in my life. I waited for so many years to finally have a dog, and then, all of a sudden, he was just there. This bony, smelly, big headed Beagle. My dog. I knew nothing about him when I got him, including that he was so old, and sick.
Over the past six months he has endeared himself to everyone he has met, and we were both lucky enough to have friends and loved ones around that were willing to extend their love, time, and support to us.
It has been a very long road trying to rehabilitate Oscar. We tried many medications, tests, and hippie diet plans to help him get better. Even after the somewhat hilarious trip to the emergency room, we tried to do the right thing by him.
The decision to drive back to Seattle was made because Oscar was too sick and ornry to get in a crate and allow himself to be put on an airplane. It was not very long into the process before I felt very thankful for his stubbornness. Our trip was a beautiful thing. I'm even going to say that it was special. Because the three of us got to spend a time together which not everyone is fortunate enough to have. It was an amazing start to our relationship, and a gift that I feel blessed Oscar gave to us. He peed in every motel room we stayed in (thanks, Super 8), and generously on the front seats of the car (sorry, National), but other than that he was pretty much like the third human. With curtain ears. Who mannaged to eat our sandwiches every time we left him in the car.
After getting here and settling in we took Oscar to his new vet to try, once again, to stop the pain he was feeling and make him a healthy old man. But after testing and a week of new medication we discovered that his problems were worse than we thought.
To try and keep Oscar alive would involve specialists, ultrasounds, and thousands of dollars worth of surgery. Even after that, his complete recovery was unlikely. Because he was so old, his body just couldn't do it.
Being faced with this decision has been extremely painful and difficult. I hope that no one ever finds themselves in a position like this. But I have tried to do the right thing for him at every turn, and now the right thing is to help him leave this world peacefully.
Thank you so much to everyone who has shared with me their time, patience, and with Oscar their love. I wish there was a better way to express how grateful I am to you. You helped make it possible for the autumn of his life to be a happy one.
I love Oscar very much. I hope wherever he is going it is filled with cheese, watermelon, and girl dogs to sniff. And that somehow, in his own way, he knows how deeply loved he was by so many people, and how much he has changed my life.
Goodbye, my friend...
